January App of the Month will Link How to Steal A Dog

The best things in life are free and evernote is free!  This was proven as my students submitted their favorite app of the month and why.  Their #1 pick is evernote which is amazing to me for so many reasons but first let me tell you why they chose it.  


*a much faster way to connect with Mrs. Caplin than collecting our notebooks
*it is so much fun to do wonderopolois and evernote on my iPod I can go anywhere to do HW
*Mrs. Caplin can drop the directions into it and I can reread them if I don't remember
*it is a step towards more technology and less paper/pencil
*I like typing better than writing
*if I don't know how to spell a word it helps me with the spelling
*we can choose our own photos to support our thinking
*it's useful because my handwriting is messy and I don't have to worry about it
*I can work on evernote at home - all I need is my iPod (my book bag is lighter)


As a teacher, I first reflected on how evernote is an application that can be put on various platforms, mobile devices as well as computers and allows accessibility to notes anywhere.  There is no game element, no strong visuals, and no opportunity to win a prize at the end.  I found this amazing as I think about the wide variety of apps they could have chosen.  If I would have predicted what might have won, I would have chosen Tap Reef.  


I  already blogged about how I love evernote and we have just touched the surface on how to expand using it.  This week we are going to use it for our read aloud:  How to Steal A Dog which I am reading to support persuassive writing as well as point of view.  I can't imagine being able to read everyone's thoughts at the end of each day.  I use to maybe once a week collect 24 reader's notebooks and take them home, come in early or just stay after school to read their thinking.  Now all I need is my laptop :)  

On a literacy side note, let me tell you about this amazing book. My friend, Karen at Literate Lives told me about this book when it first came out.  Have you ever read a book and  fell in love with it and could not put it down?  The life lessons in this book are so important and through Barbara O'Connor's story, she does a beautiful job of helping the reader learn about homelessness which is topic that is not written about in many elementary books. One of my favorite lines in the book, "I guess bad times can make a person do bad things, huh?"


 Also I want to introduce my students to Barbara O'Connor who has written so many tremendous books for kids.


*Greetings from Nowhere (another HUGE favorite of mine)
*Small Adventures of Popeye and Elvis
*Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia

Priceless Read Aloud: How to Steal a Dog

Read aloud is the knockout punch in my reading block everyday.  There are several components and next to conferencing with students I think read aloud is my favorite part for several reasons.  First, read aloud is about building our class community and sharing a marvelous book and having conversations is an integral part of community.  Next, I don't kill a read aloud with worksheets. This year I committed to collecting my students reader's notebook (RNB) once a week, so I could continue a personal conversation with my students.  This has been the power punch for me.  I encourage students to write about a prompt that I provide or just write about what they are thinking about the book. I have been amazed at how honest the students are and more importantly I have learned several things about my students that I don't think they would have told me.  Reinforcing the "power of the pencil."  Finally when we complete our book, I have my students write a personal reflection. I blogged about this idea here when we finished Wonder.  

We just finished How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor.  This is on my must read list every year in 5th grade.  Here is my original post from January 29, 2011. Georgina, Toby, Momma, and Mookie teach us so many important life lessons.  The woven themes of giving back, importance of family, "don't judge a book by it's cover" and never giving up are all intertwined throughout the story.  Georgina has so many decisions and the process of her thinking is saved in her writer's notebook which is just an added plus for me. Finally, I asked my students to write their responses, and to say that I was overwhelmed was an understatement. In addition, I suggested to my students to share their thoughts about this book with their parents. Several students chose this option also.  

She sure realized all the life lessons.

LOVE his opening lead!

Conversation between my student and her mom.

Finally, I tweeted out Friday night I was reading my student responses and Barbara O'Connor responded back to me and now I have some very special tweets to share with my students today.  Thanks Barbara for making my Friday night and my students Monday morning.

Liebster Award

 Yesterday I received a tweet from Holly at Reading, Teaching and Learning nominating me for the Liebster Award.  I had been reading a few other blogs that had been nominated, so I was excited when she nominated my blog.  This award is given to "up and coming" bloggers who have less than 200 followers. (I will be breaking this rule because I have no idea how many for some of them) Nominations come from other bloggers, and as I have constantly said without support from other bloggers I would not be where I am today. Thank you Holly for reading my blog and for this nomination.

Rules for participating in this blog award are as follows:
1. Link back to the blog that nominated me. 
2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers. 
3. Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator.
4. Share 11 random facts about yourself. 
5. Create 11 questions for your nominees. 
6. Contact your nominees by commenting on their blog or sending them an email to communicate the nomination.

1.  If you could invite any three authors or illustrators to dinner, who would they be?
a) I wish I could have met Carolyn Haywood because I went to the library every Saturday to choose a new book in the series. My favorite was B is for Betsy.

b) Again I wish I could have met Laura Ingalls Wilder:  I loved the whole series; I read every one of them at least twice.  We live in the country now, and I am pretty sure I started dreaming about it back when I read Little House on the Prairie.

c) Chris Lehman and Troy Hicks would be my final two although now it is 4 :) Both of these authors have shifted my thinking and helped me realize the importance of 21^st Century skills.

2.  If you were stranded on a desert island, what luxury item would you want with you?

I think I would have to bring my iPad because I would have my books, journaling, and music all on one device.  However, after the battery dies out I would be in big trouble. Hopefully I would be rescued soon.

3.  What is one important thing you learned in the past year?

How important the word “yet” can be at the end of a sentence. I heard this at a conference, and I am working diligently on adding it to several of my BIG ideas.

4.  What is the number one thing on your bucket list?

WOW that is a difficult question because I always think of my list as my future goals so I hope to achieve them.  Right now my selfish goal is to go to Ochos Rios Jamaica.

5.  What are some of your professional goals?

Continue growing (again) with technology in my classroom. Start breaking down the walls and opening conversations beyond Room 228. 

6.  Who or what makes you laugh?

I am blessed because my husband is funny and always knows when I need to laugh at home. My teaching partner, Sarah, and I laugh constantly at school and that makes life fun.

7.  If you had to write a personal motto or mission statement, what would it be?

My mom taught me when I was little and away from home to "always look at the moon because we are looking at the same one"  I have taught our children, so no matter where we are - we're all looking at the same moon.

8.  If you were allowed to talk about only one book for the next month, what would it be?

For school, it would be How to Steal a Dog. The lessons learned and the importance of family is one of my all time favorite books!!  Thanks Barbara O'Connor.

My personal book same kind of different As me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. This was a "life changing" book for me so many important ideas to consider.

9.  What is the one T.V show you can't miss?

CBS Sunday Morning

10.  Where do you want to be in 15 years?

I will be retired, spending time with our children (possibly grandchildren) and enjoying time with my husband.

11.  What was your proudest moment?

The day I married my best friend and today is our 28 anniversary.  The day our two children were born.  It’s all about family for me.

Taken this summer in Charleston, South Carolina

Random 11 facts:

1.  I love to take photos of flowers and unique architecture especially older buildings.

2.  My first teaching job was as a Special Ed. teacher in St. Louis.

3.  I've been to Boston 10 times with 50 soon to be sixth graders. 

4.  We have had horses, pigs, and cows on our farm. Several adorable kittens and our dog's name is Ringo after the Beatles.

5.  I don't like hot days.

6.  I love The Ohio State Buckeyes. 

7.   After I retire from teaching, I might want to work at Hallmark.

8.  I am excited for new opportunities presented this summer (NCFL and CL)

9.  I am a country girl that goes to the city to work.

10.  Our driveway is almost a mile long.

Here are my 11 questions, can’t wait to read your answers.

1.  Where is your favorite place to write?

2.  If you could have a second career what would you do?

3.  Describe a perfect Saturday morning.

4.  What is your favorite sport?

5.  If you could call anyone and talk to them, who would you call?

6.  Where would you like to visit if you could travel anywhere in the world?

7.  What book do you read aloud to your class every year?

8.  What is one secret that we don't know about your classroom?

9.  Would you rather be near the ocean or near the mountains?

10. What is the best advice you would give to a new teacher in your building?

11.  What is your favorite candy bar?

Excited to read your responses:

Barbara @  Wondering Through 2012 and Beyond

Tara @ A Teaching Life
Melissa @  Figuring Out How the Pieces Fit Together
Tracy @ Thinking Stems

Paul @ Mr. Hankins is Reading and Writing Kentuckiana

120 minutes Feels Different than Two Hours

Students reading articles for our persuasive writing unit.

One of the best principals that I ever had always said January through March is crunch time.  He use to call it that because it was the time before spring break. Now with state testing, I still see this time frame as crunch time.  My focus is always on how to build a stronger and more consistent literacy workshop block of time.  My first shift is thinking differently about my literacy block NOT three isolated blocks (reading, writing, word study) but as a two-hour block of time with mandatory components. I know I have fallen into the trenches of seeing two hours in thirds not as one large block of time.  I really need to shift my thinking about time, and I plan on implementing three mandatory components.

1)  The first 15 minutes are spent finishing our current read aloud:  How to Steal A Dog, which is one of my all time favorite teams. Thank you Barbara O’Connor for this beautiful story and connecting with our class through our twitter account @bes228

2)  Word study:  I firmly believe building strong instruction around vocabulary is crucial to be a strong reader and writer.  I am going to continue to focus on integration of word work throughout reading and writing workshop.  There is more power to the punch when the lesson is based on a need that I observe during writing.  Yesterday, I worked with a few students about forming past tense verbs and the rules of af add "ed."  Relevant and real time is my new motto.

    3) Thinking as a Reader/Writer weaving these areas into more of a fluid time in workshop. With time always being an issue, I have been thinking about how to link reading with writing more than I have been in the past.  We are currently working on our persuasive writing, and the students are reading several articles that I have collected. For example: Should Cereals Contain Toys?  Should Students Be Paid for Their Grades?  After we discuss the article, we then locate the persuasive strategies and the students write their ideas into their writer's notebook for their PW.

I am excited to make these changes especially with thinking about my time in my Language Arts block differently. Instead of thinking of my two-hour block of time in thirds, I am thinking it as a whole 120 minutes with the continued focus on stronger reading, writing and word study integration.

Let's Be Honest

This is the month for state testing in Ohio. My fifth graders just completed 3 days of testing-math, reading, and science.  I live in a state in which 50% of my evaluation will be based on this year's reading and math scores.  My students this year will determine my evaluation for next school year 2013-2014. Does it make sense?  Can I explain it even to my husband, parents or neighbors not really.  When they ask me questions that I can't answer as an educator of 24 years it makes me extremely disheartened.  

But let's be honest.

I chose to integrate test taking strategies all year.  My school has implemented a K-5 procedure for helping students with their extended responses. We worked on our RACE strategies all year, and my students know how to break a question apart (TTQA) and answer with evidence and support.  But let's be honest.

When my door is closed, and we are having rich conversations about our read aloud this year. Sharing Wonder and How to Steal a Dog. Allowing students time to work on their weekly reading goals which for several students includes reading a poetry book or a non fiction book for the first time. That is true celebration!  These success stories will not be a part of my evaluation because there is not any way to "measure" the value of these experiences. I would argue there is a way-

I would argue the value is 100%- all of my students have read a new genre this year-one they never would have considered in the past and several are now hooked on that genre.

I would argue that the value is 90%-almost all of my students wrote and published their first poem ever. By publishing, they read it front of their peers on Poetry Friday.  

I would argue that the value is 85%-most of my students have a private vocabulary notebook that they carry around from school to home and collect their words on the weekend, watching ESPN, reading the paper, or at a soccer tournament. 

I would argue that the value of 100% is ALL my students are readers because they want to be-they do not record minutes, they don't have to read a genre every month assigned to them. They are all readers because they choose what they read, when they read and set their own goals.  My students are all READERS!

Let's be honest-isn't that what we want for all students from K-12?  Not individually assigned a color of red, yellow, and green?  Let's be honest.

OLW March Reflections

"March came in like a lion and out like a lamb." I found myself wondering about this phrase several times during the month.  I googled it and found this from the Naturalist's Almanac: No one seems to know much about the origins of this particular proverb. It’s just one of the many old sayings that come from our oral past. Before anyone could write, it was transmitted from generation to generation by repetition. All that’s known for sure is that its first appearance in English literature was in 1624, by which time it was familiar enough to English audiences to appear as a bit of banter in a popular play.


The reason I thought of this quote is because I have been struggling for the past few months with changing literacy instruction in my classroom.  I have felt like a lion and a lamb at some point since Christmas. On the lion side, I had to change my reading instruction model to focus more on guided reading (GR) groups. In 5th grade, I have used many strategies of GR but not truly ran GR groups in the past. But now I was told I had to run these groups.  I have learned and worked really hard to make GR work within my classroom but the lion of it is that I have lost other parts of my reading instruction primarily my read aloud and sense of whole class community in February and March.  This really saddened me and as I was reflecting on the month of March, so I committed to coming back to our read aloud and what I believe is the key to success in a strong reading program.

The lamb in me is committing to bring back our whole class community read aloud during our literacy block. Yesterday, I explained to our class that we are going to read How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor for the enjoyment of an amazing story. I told my class that we're not doing any worksheets, vocabulary work or comprehension checks. You could have heard a pin drop and on the other hand you should have heard them cheering in MT.  My goal is to rebuild our community and most importantly have discussions about life choices.  Isn't education about learning and preparing for the future and not just passing three state tests in May? My March came in like a lion but our April will be like a lamb.

Check out these other bloggers participating in OLW:
Barbara: at Wondering Through 2012
Tracy at Thinking Stems